Straight No Chaser

For nigh on two decades Straight No Chaser magazine went around the globe reflecting the musical pre-occupations of a devoted readership which included musicians , DJs, crate diggers, music junkies, artists and designers and those people who just wanted that bit more.

Conceived as a magazine of “world Jazz Jive” that was attuned to the “Freedom Principle”, Straight No Chaser rejected boundaries, was devoted those musicians who created the foundation of what we have today, and welcomed the spirit of the new. Straight No Chaser was founded by Paul Bradshaw, Kathryn Willgress and Neil Spencer because nobody was interested in publishing stories about the music and artists that fired them up. The magazine was rooted in clubland and the jazz dance scene but it embraced wider global endeavours. Basically, it was about the impact of the African diaspora and how that’s shaped a global culture.

Straight No Chaser spanned a crucial era in the evolution of club culture. Giant steps were taken: The Wag, Sol Y Sombra, Soul II Soul @ the Africa Centre, Shake & Fingerpop, the Sunrise sessions, Talking Loud & Saying Something, Bar Rumba, Mambo Inn, The Blue Note (Anohka, Metalheadz… ), Speed, Co-Op. Chaser was written by those who were involved… who lived the life.

Straight No Chaser was a family. It was built on its contributors. The design of Straight No Chaser was always radical. It was conceived at the dawn of the new technology and its designer, Ian ‘Swifty’Swift rapidly notched up an Apple design award. He was the “graffix overseer”, designed his own fonts and delivered killing spread after spread. Though ably assisted by Matt ‘Monkey Boxer’ Bailey in the latter years, Swift was always the magazine’s art director.

On its 10th anniversary, Straight No Chaser mutated via a major re-design into a magazine of ‘Interplanetary Sounds Ancient to Future’. The world had changed. Imagine, when we started there was no internet, no mobile phones, Apple Macs were in their infancy. We had come a long way. The Berlin wall came down, apartheid ended and Mandela became the Black President.

SNC / Blue Note Japan

There were the Chaser tours of Japan (big respek to Naoki Toyama) and the collaborations that manifested in the groundbreaking Shape Of Things To Come events. Putting bands together that included The Roots, MC Solar, DJ Krush, Airto, Palmskin, Steve Williamson, Omar, Jhelisa, Bjork, Leila, Talvin Singh, Afro Bloc, Snowboy…. that was something the Chaser crew were seriously proud off.

Straight No Chaser was based in Hoxton (and London Fields) and a quick scan of who’s who in that classic Peter Williams shot of the Chaser crew – Great day In Hoxton’ – goes some way to illuminate the historical impact of the magazine.

Great Day In Hoxton – The Chaser Family -1998Photography: Peter Williams

Though Chaser wouldn’t have existed if it hadn’t been for the technology, it was the net that finally sealed its fate. Advertising revenue began to slide and after 97 issues the difficult decision to cease publication was made. It was a wild ride for those involved and it’s left us with an incredible archive that needs to find home in a book (or two). In the meantime, the plan is to delve back into time and revive some of those stories and images for a new generation of readers who are tuning in to this Ancient To Future thing.

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48 Responses to Straight No Chaser

Swifty mailed me this morning to say he’s enjoying the blog… basically. I will just follow the Chaser vibe and bang up new stuff I think is worth following up. Some on a news tip, others more in depth ( I like a bit of depth). There’s lot of stuff in the Chaser archive I can revive… if I can wrap my head around reproducing some of the actual unedited interviews as audio I might do that (if it’s not to embarrassing!). Jah knows where we’ll end up!

Deeply missed indeed and as a nod of respect to Paul and all at SNC for their enduring and influential work over the years, I’ve put together a little something to remind us of the SNC vibe….take a listen:))

SNC turned me on to so much great music I might otherwise have missed. We need filters now more than ever, so if anyone reading this gets inspired to create one, the Chaser was a great example of how it’s done.

In the 90’s my mail order rare record biz was built around my advert in SNC. For seven years I travelled the globe, crate digging and selling old vinyl all over the world. Sadly the internet took it´s toll on me too (but hey, shit happens, I moved to sunny Spain and back to being a Sparks). The look and the style of the mag was something else. Bradders, I luv you Man!

Straight No Chaser was a classic and an original, and I have missed Paul Bradshaw/Swiftys artistic work greatly since the magazine’s passing. A very sad loss. SNC never received the recognition it deserved but hey, don’t ya know, everybody knows rock stars, pop tarts, and overpaid so called celebrities are the really important persons in this culture of the glitterati. Unfortunately.

late recognitions, ‘minor apprehension’.. which either mclean’s tune you choose to hear? jackie.. it was a ‘one step beyond’..paul
many people have been of assistance in the preparation of the SNC magazine, and their efforts are deserving of a brief mention. to begin with, i would like to thank the entire buyers staff of the various stores who pushed the-sales-on-return policy regardless at the infancy stages of the magazine. the collectors and the KNOWLDGABLES such as brain, hugh, ahmed, john, paul, naomi, raphel, pedro rojas. additionally the feets of bulldog, steve, idj, the four technicians, the brothers and all the dingwells crew. as well as the performers. baz, giles, patric, dean, and co..
as I said, this is a brief note: I like to knowledge all who supported mr broadshaw on his sublime quest. Including those who help him to physically distribute the heavy boxes at late hours. late recognition becomes the favourite hindsight for the happy ending, usually is….

Indeed… Straight No Chaser would not have existed had it mot been for an endless flow of like minded souls willing give their services free of charge. They cam from the four corners. I remember getting a phone call from King Britt in Philly in the very early days… before we had a real office… and thinking how did this geezer get the mag when he’s in Philadelphia…but Chaser did travel and wherever it went someone inevitably got in touch… “I’m an illustrator and want to do a gallery”… “I’ma photograoher and I’ve just come back from Senegal” … “I’m a writer and live in the Bay area and can do a piece about the Church Of John Coltrane” … “I run a shop and would love to sell your mag”… “I DJ, can send you a chart of tunes that’s rocking our club in Kyoto”. Producing a magazine is very hands on… and we while we had a lot of interns (schools, colleges, University inc a succession of excellent students from Boston University who were drpped into a avery different cultural world) they all got real experience and all made it into print. As you point out we were constantly inspired by those around us… DJ s, dancers, aspiring musicians… that history remains in our archive which, one day, has to emerge in book form. OK… as it’s just opped into my head… Big Up to Rob Mac (Scratch) cos when he was working the shops around London Town for Time Out (our distributors at that time) our circ=ultion was the best ever. As for those boxes… I’ve still got a few. (PB)

Hey Tony… this is not a debate I’d like to get involved with cos there’s a tendency to get your ass bit or get caught in the crossfire. I’m sure that in the past I declared that Jazz Is My Religion and the first incarnation of Chaser was World Jazz Jive… but this blog owes it’s name the the Art Ensemble of Chicago who rejected the word jazz for Great Black Music: Ancient to Future. So, I understand and respect the ideological side of Nichols Payton viewpoint and go along with AACM and Duke Ellington. I’m sure Miles was desperate to lose the Jazz tag when he was doing Bitches Brew… he didn’t want to be filed in a record store next to Birth Of Cool… he wanted to be in the same rack as Hendrix. In the end all categories are restricting… look at Cassandra Wilson when she did with Blue Lights Till dawn – it was on a “jazz” label – Blue Note – but the concept behind the album was to take her beyond that category into “alternative spaces”. It worked. Basically, the quest is to get the music over to a new generation of listeners who can the tap into the richest musical tributary in America… and if they can move the music into a new era without using the J-word that’s fine by me.

Cool Bradders, I respect your view not to get caught up in the crossfire. At the end of the day the music marketing moguls and powers that be will never drop the j-word, or indeed change it to Black American Music. Let it be up to whatever the individual chooses to call it. Besides, I ain´t going through my iTunes and changing the “Genre” on 40,000 tunes. Saludos mi amigo. TP

SNC was without doubt a bible to me throughout my youth, it introduced me to so much wonderful music, it introduced me to new ideas and I still remember the sadness I felt when it finished. Thank you Mr. Bradshaw, I remember there was talk of a book charting the history of the movement?

Imagine life without SNC
If I start writing down all the minor things you helped to inject into the streets, I will – fo soo, ran out of space, especially when I tried to fit it here on this WordPress field. Here are a few of my thoughts listing why I dig you Paul. You are kindness and gentleness. You are caring and loving. You are fun. And in equal measure, your ‘Goodbye Porkpie Hat’.
Lester Young will agree of how phenomenal you have become to be. Things that people have not done that they have wished now to be done; in your case Things that you have managed to do that makes us proud to be part of…..
Things will always come to those who are sincere in their work. As Max once said Deeds, not Words.. AT

Noooo. Just discovered SNC right about now… Damn. I’m allways behind! Found some editions from 2005 in a dusty box here at the radiostation i work at in Denmark. Love them and would love to see this mashup -based on the j-word- magazine still come out. Damn you interweb and declining advert-income. Well.. Thanks anyway. Any idea where to place yourself today if you wanna be on the lookout for newish dancable music rooted in jazz and related? Seems like theres no place on earth that collects that kind of information anymore and puts it out as a whole.. Or?

SNC miss you ,remember eagerly awaiting each new issue and always being blown away by the depth and knowledge of each contributor whether words or visual.There is nothing like it around right now ,Space Is The Place..One Love.

I remember the first Straight No Chaser that I’d purchased. It had Four Hero on the cover & a free CD that included Terry Callier on one of the tracks. I really enjoyed the content & style since I was coming from a Hip Hop / Acid Jazz background together with being a big Gilles Peterson fan. I ended up purchasing some back dated issues since being issued every quartely didn’t take up too much room. Hey, Wasn’t Tom Waits on one of the front covers.
Kind regards
Derrick D (From Derrick D & The Backbones)

We did have Tom Waits on the cover… very long interview between him and film maker Jim Jarmusch… 8 pages… maybe more… the crew would let me run the whole thing… they thought I’d gone mad… I got in trouble from Jim J for not running the whole thing….

I am the curator of the British record shop archive this year am planning an exhibition of the past record shops of Soho 1946-96 in April at the same time as record store day. I am looking for photographs and memories for the exhibition and also for the online archive. I have Paul Bradshaw having worked at Maroons Tunes back in the day. Anything you can add to the shop page on my website would be apricated and also anyone else reading this post.